PLASTICS INTO PROFIT
On the basis of financial performance, Leinster Environmentals in Dundalk was a very deserving overall winner of the National Small Business Awards 2024, organised by the SFA. The business recycles waste plastic into granules for use in manufacture of car parts and other plastic items, and in recent years the sustainability ethos has been a big boost.
Operating company Lenviron Ltd booked a profit of €3.1m in FY22, up from €540,000 the previous year, and CEO James Loughran (44) shared €460,000 pay and pension remuneration with office manager Sheila Dalton, the company’s other director. A dividend of €945,000 was paid to shareholders.
Lenviron was incorporated in 1996 by Anthony Loughran, and in 2004 son James, an Ag Science graduate from UCD, joined the family firm and installed the first plastic recycling equipment. Since then, Leinster Environmentals says it has diverted almost 20,000 truckloads of waste plastics from landfills and incinerators by converting waste material into raw materials used by plastic moulding companies around the world.
The recycling operation was developed on farm lands owned by the Loughrans. It now consists of c.180,000 sq. ft of covered warehousing and processing space, and 500,000 sq. ft of uncovered yard space. To add to sustainability credentials, there is a 200,000 litre rainwater harvesting infrastructure and dual flush toilets. The company also carries out an annual native-tree planting programme to offset CO2 emissions and “provide habitats for wild birds, bats, insects and mammals”, according to its website.
Leinster Environmentals recycles post-production industrial waste, plastic buckets, bales of plastic film, compacted expanded polystyrene, and plastic bottles. There are seven grinding lines for different materials, and each line is fitted with removal equipment that extracts metal, paper and water and other contaminants. The regrinded plastic pellets are than packed in bags and shipped out on wooden
James Loughran heads up the SFA’s best small business 2024
pallets.
Lenviron doesn’t disclose turnover in its annual filing but trade debtors at the end of FY22 were €1.7m, up from €780,000 a year earlier. Periodend prepayments were €1.6m, up from €370,000, another indicator of strong growth. In March 2022, other creditors including tax and social insurance amounted to €617,000, up from €495,000 a year earlier.
Announcing the awards winner, Small Firms Association chair Geraldine Magnier stated: “The company’s success is attributed to its well-defined objectives, a thriving research and development initiative, remarkable innovation, and significant strides in both local and international markets.”
National Small Business Awards category winners included Oishii Foods, Oseng, Drink Botanicals Ireland, JJ Burke Car Sales, Zeus Scooters, Klearcom, and OB-1 Hair.